New Exhibition Highlights through Art and Photography the History and Impact of Aviation

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The fantasies and realities of flight and space exploration, as depicted through art and photography in the West and around the world, went on display in the Autry National Center’s new Skydreamers exhibition. The great journey of discovery and its unifying impact on all of us as eyewitnesses unfolds through approximately 150 items, principally original high-quality photographs, as well as works on paper, paintings, posters, and memorabilia drawn primarily from the extensive collection of flight and space material in the Stephen White collection.

“When the Autry agreed to showcase Skydreamers, I envisioned an exhibition that traced the beginnings of flight through the aviation period and into an exploration of the greater universe, but as the selection process evolved and the sections began to sort themselves out through the works, more complex issues evolved. These issues went far beyond the original intent of the exhibition,” said Stephen White, exhibition originator and curator. With the tremendous amount of works to choose from in the Stephen White collection, the exhibition has been moved to the Autry’s larger George Montgomery Gallery and now includes a 1947 photograph of the interior of Howard Hughes’s “Spruce Goose” aircraft while under construction, as well as a circa 1900 10-image sequence of a balloon ascension in Paris, France.

Artistic works in Skydreamers showcases the inception of human flight in the early 1780s when the Montgolfier Brothers captured the popular imagination with their development of a balloon that would ascend over the city of Paris. In addition to spawning artistic renditions of the event, a balloon craze seized Paris. Balloon hats, dresses, furniture, and other items became the rage.

Once airplanes appeared on the horizon, artists were attracted to the shapes, forms, and perspectives aviation offered. Photography became the preferred medium of such artists as Alfred Stieglitz, Margaret Bourke-White, and abstract photographer Aaron Siskind. As flyers forged new frontiers in their strange contraptions, photographers and moviemakers were there with their own odd machines, capturing goggled faces and triumphant smiles. A century of development in both photography and space exploration has led to digital applications that allow contemporary artists, such as Sharon Harper, Michael Light, David Malin, Michel Benson, Jennie Okun, and Robert Weingarten, to reinterpret space.

“We are excited to present this exhibition, which provides a unique view of the Earth from above. The American West has long been a place where people have felt the freedom to explore unique points of views—whether in fashion, music, lifestyle, or artistic expression—and to display works by people who literally rose to the top of the world for a different perspective embodies that imaginative spirit of the American West,” said Daniel Finley, Autry President and CEO.

The fascination with aerial pursuits led to the popularization of aviation heroes in song, stamps, postcards, and many other forms of mass media. Films were made about flight. Books for children, such as Captain Wilbur Lawton’s The Boy Aviator’s Polar Dash, featured heroes who used aviation to solve mysteries or travel the world. Air meets and competitions drew enormous crowds. Thomas Baldwin, daredevil trapeze artist, captivated crowds by being the first to parachute from a balloon in 1885. Imagery of California’s contributions is recognized with the first balloon ascension in California around 1871, and the first aviation meet in America, held at Dominguez Hills near Los Angeles in January 1910. Photos from various other air meets are also included.

Flight Photography
Various achievements in the progress of flight are highlighted through photographs of early flyers and planes as well as those of the first flight across the United States by Cal Rodgers in 1911 and Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight. The exhibition traces the development of flight with a number of firsts, including the first flight and the first around-the-world trip, and a section on pioneer aviators.

Space Photography
A number of nineteenth-century telescopic findings captured for scientific study have been incorporated into the space section. Space photography includes the crowning achievement: a photograph of the Earth taken from the moon. This is complemented by images of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, leading up to the image of the 2004 Hubble Telescope’s Ultra-Deep Field, the deepest image of the universe ever taken, on view in a darkened area of the exhibition.

View of the Earth From Above
The final section of the exhibition reveals the Earth from above, beginning with shots from balloons and airplanes of cities, battlefields, and even an atomic explosion, and ending with space shots of the Earth. The final photograph in the exhibition is the famous “pale blue dot” taken by Voyager 1 in 1990 that reveals the Earth as seen from 3.5 billion miles away.

The exhibition and a fully illustrated exhibition catalogue commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1910 Dominguez Hills Air Meet. In addition to the objects from the Stephen White collection, the exhibition includes items from institutions, private collectors, and artists.

Stephen White
Stephen White has been involved with photography since 1975, when he opened one of the first galleries in the United States devoted to fine art and historical photography. The Stephen White Gallery remained open until 1990, when he sold his entire collection and inventory to a Japanese museum. Since 1990, White has worked privately, collecting and selling photography. He has curated three major museum exhibitions prior to Skydreamers, each one exclusively or primarily from his own collection. He has also published numerous photographic catalogues and books, and was the founding President of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers in 1979. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Mus.

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